The Green Ocarina
by rattlesnakedefender
Summary: Go back in time to the Kokiri village. Back before the events of Ocarina of Time there was another sacred Ocarina, the Ocarina of the forest. The Green Ocarina holds the lost secrets of the Forest Temple. Mido, Saria, and very young Link find their past.


This is a story starring my favorite character Mido! I was trying to explain about Mido and why he's known as such a jerk. This is all pre Ocarina of Time and it takes place in Kokiri forest before a lot of things looked the way they did in OoT. For instance the Forest temple doesnt have broken steps and the Kokiri don't live in stumps but rather fully foliaged trees. I wanted to tell about Kokiri heritage in this one too. So...enjoy!

The Green Ocarina

In a secluded part of hyrule a melody rang out. Some birds stirred in the trees but didn't spring from their perches out of fear; they knew a friend made the music. A young girl, her body un-aged by time sat alone in a clearing in the midst of the woods. Her blue eyes were lidded and her green hair shone in the light, she was a Kokiri at peace. In the cool damp air of the forest morning she played her ocarina with joy in her solitude. Under the scattered light of the morning sun she tapped her foot lightly to the music that she made.

In the small village occupied by the Kokiri a boy awoke, startled by the song. His pointed ears moved slightly picking up the mysterious song. His blue eyes were still clouded in the haze of sleep, as was his mind. The boy laid his head back onto his pillow and pulled his scarlet hair out of his eyes, which were now embellished by his eyebrows in anger.

"What the heck is that!?" he said to himself half in curiosity and half in annoyance.

"It sounds like an ocarina, Mido, you should know what they sound like, you have one after all." The awaking fairy above his head said spiritidly while admitting a tiny yawn.

"I know it's an ocarina! Stupid fairy..." Mido said in anger. The fairy hit Mido in the head in retaliation and then perched on the tip of his hat. They had a playful hate-love relationship, and Mido's fairy knew that when Mido did say something like that he usually never meant it.

It was true, Mido did have an ocarina, but he lacked the skill to play it, so he kept it stored away, too embarrassed to actually practice on it. Mido took it out from under his bed and looked at it. It was like a sweet potato in shape with many holes in it and unlike any he had ever seen it was green. Mido had found the green ocarina discarded in the sacred forest meadow one-day sticking halfway out of the ground, and had gracefully tripped over it. How Mido wished that he could play the ocarina as good as Saria no one would know.

Mido sighed with the thought of Saria. Mido had spent his entire life trying to gain her attention, and all of his attempts had backfired on him. He loved practically everything about Saria. Her green hair, her pretty blue eyes, her wonderful laugh; it was all intoxicating to him. Mido couldn't stand to be away from the green-headed girl, but Saria, being a person who liked solitude made it hard for him to be with her constantly. But what Mido couldn't have became the pinnacle of his desire, he longed to be with Saria, so he followed her whenever he could staying out of sight. Watching Saria brought a bit of peace to Mido. He heard the Melody again, clearer and it seemed familiar to him this time.

"It's probably just...Saria playing her ocarina" Mido said rubbing his forehead. He fell back into his bed and held his ocarina, examining it. "It sure is a nice ocarina, it's green just like Saria's hair." he said admiring it.

"Is that all you think about you silly boy?" The fairy said giggling.

"What? what are you talking about, all I said is that it was green like Saria's hair!" Mido said being defensive.

"Oh, c'mon Mido you can't keep it from me, I know you like Saria!" The yellow fairy said fluttering about the room.

"No I don't! Whatever gave you that idea!" he said outraged.

"Are you forgetting that wherever you go I go? You follow her, and I can hear you mumbling that you want her to notice you all the time." she said touching Mido on the nose. "Besides, I can see the look in your eyes when you see her...your in a total lovesick daze silly boy!"

Mido looked for the right words to say to convince the fairy otherwise but he couldn't find them.

"I I..If you tell anyone...I'll pull your wings off!" Mido threatened holding his fist up at the fluttering fairy.

"That's fine, cause I wont be the one to tell anyone, you will!" the fairy giggled.

"What are you talking about, why would I tell!?" Mido asked confused.

"You're going to have to tell her one day, you have to," she said while landing on Mido's table. Mido watched as she jumped around energetically among the items on his table.

"Why is that?" he said sitting up in bed. He just couldn't understand his fairy's logic, it was making no sense. Why would he want to tell one of his most darkest secrets that he had went out of his way to hide? The fairy flitted to the end of a spoon and looked at Mido and smiled.

"Because you will regret it if you don't silly!" she laughed, teasing him.

"Oh gosh.." Mido said rolling his eyes. If anything he would regret it if he did. He could just imagine the teasing if any of the other kids knew he had a crush on the green headed kokiri girl. "Leave me alone..." Mido said pulling his hat over his face and turning over in bed with a sigh.

The fairy stretched her wings and giggled. She bounced up and down energetically over Mido's head, trying to wake him.

"Get up Mido! How can the Kokiri rely on such a lazy boss?"

Mido picked up a shoe and threw it at the fairy, which missed.

"Give me a break fairy! They can rely on someone else for five more minutes!" Mido said angrily. "Why do you fairies have to be so annoying?!" he said pulling the covers tightly about him.

That reminded Mido of his responsibilities. Mido loved being the boss around the Kokiri village and being able to issue orders. But sometimes he realized the responsibility was a bit more challenging than he had thought. The know-it-all brothers sometimes acted as his advisors. Some things advice wouldn't work for though, when the little blonde-headed girl who he despised put itchy moss in his bed he could think of nothing to do but strangle the troublemaker. He just lost control of his temper sometimes. Fortunately Saria gave the girl a scolding and Mido settled with prescribing her with some hard work to make up for the troubles she caused. It wasn't an easy job being boss of the Kokiri.

"Get up!" The fairy squealed grabbing the covers and trying her best to pull them off the Kokiri boy.

"Hey! Fine! I'm up.. go annoy some other Kokiri!" Mido said, agitated.

"But Mido your the only one for me!" she said mocking him. Mido ignored the fairy.

Mido climbed out of the bed finally and stretched, yawning. He walked over to his mirror and splashed some water in his face. He looked at his reflection, dissatisfied. He had never liked his appearance at all. Mido's upper lip jutted out and his cheeks were ripe with the freckles of childhood not to mention round, although Mido himself was not fat. He seemed to gain all his weight in his face.

Mido's hair was a different story it was so out of control that he dare not be caught outside his house without his hat. His hair was a normal Kokiri red, he managed to keep his bangs looking respectable but he hated how his hair stuck out in slicked back tufts from underneath his hat, no matter what he tried he couldn't do anything with them. The only thing he accepted as not looking too bad was his eyes, they were big, round, and blue.

"I, uh, I think I'll go see what Saria is doing." He said taking one last look at himself in the mirror. Mido shoved the green ocarina in his pocket, and picked up his shoe that he had thrown and put it on. The fairy started to giggle. Mido looked sharply at the fairy and pointed a finger at her.

"Remember what I said about pulling your wings off?" he threatened. The fairy became silent and meekly dove underneath Mido's hat.

"That's more like it." he said satisfied. Mido believed he could keep anything in line if he threatened it enough.

Mido expected his fairy to tease him the whole way there but mysteriously she kept quiet. Slyly, he looked at the floating light puff with wings, wondering just what she was thinking. He got to the forest meadow and sure enough, Saria was sitting under her favorite tree playing her ocarina next to the steps that lead up to the forest temple. The melody that had awakened him was Saria's after all. Mido swooned a bit as he saw Saria sitting there in all her green-ness. He bit his bottom lip nervously; she hadn't noticed his entrance into the meadow. In a way he thought, it was just how defenseless Saria really was. He could have been some kind of monster ready to pounce on her, and she wouldn't have even noticed. Mido entertained the thought of being her protector, gallantly facing danger as she sighed in the background watching his bravery. He giggled to himself, looking at the ground, thinking of a thank you kiss. The hairs on his neck stood up with pleasure as he thought of her lips on his. To have a girl kiss him, and not just any girl-Saria-- would be nothing but pure heaven. With a smile he sighed heavily-and loudly.

Saria looked up alarmed and the melody stopped.

"What are you doing here Mido?" Saria said inquisitively. Mido froze, looked around sheepishly, and scratched at his forehead.

"I I I-uh, I heard you playing your ocarina, it uh, sounded different." he said nervously, avoiding eye contact and shoving his hands in his pockets, since he didn't know what to do with them.

"Yes, actually its a new melody I came up with." She said smiling.

Mido cleared his throat. The grass under his feet crunched a little as he came over to where Saria was, the forest had not received a good rain in a while. But Mido hardly noticed because he was trying with all his might not to stumble in front of Saria.

"Well, uh that's pretty good" he said standing with his hands on his hips in his over-bold pose. "What you call that song?" he said trying his best to be suave.

"I don't know yet," Saria said holding her tiny chin. "Since it's my song I guess I'll just call it 'Saria's Song'" she said shrugging slightly with a smile.

Mido paused for a moment, and got caught up in Saria's gaze. He loved to look into her blue eyes. Mido felt a haze of shyness come over him again he broke his vision from her by putting his hands in his pockets again. Then Mido remembered the ocarina as he felt it's roundness in his pocket. He pulled the green ocarina out of his pocket; it shined slightly in the sunlight, showing off its beauty.

"I found this Saria," he said meekly "Would you like it?" he said extending the green ocarina to her.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed happily. "What a beautiful ocarina!" she reached out and took the ocarina in her hands and examined it closely. Her hand gently rubbed against his as she took it and it sent Mido into a whirl again. "You found this?" She asked him.

"Y-Yeah, I found it in the forest meadow." he said trying to regain control.

Saria looked at the Ocarina with squinted eyes as if looking for something to make it familiar but couldn't find it. She looked back up at Mido and smiled.

"Thank-you Mido, it is so sweet of you to give me such a pretty ocarina." The young Kokiri girl hugged Mido. "I'm glad were friends." Mido found himself unable to move in the embrace, and his knees almost gave out underneath him, as if they had turned to jelly. She took him completely by surprise by wrapping her arms around him. He wished she would never let go, she smelled like sweet grass, he could barely catch his breath. Mido loved the feeling of her warm body against his. His heart was beating very fast; it felt as if it was so full it might explode.

"Here, Mido you can use the green ocarina you gave me, I want to teach you my song." She said releasing him from her embrace. Mido fell to his knees, drained. His shaken legs had finally given out.

"Mido are you ok?" Saria asked staring at the fallen Kokiri boy. Mido coughed repeatedly, embarrassed and sat down on the ground.

"Ahem, yeah I'm fine, no prob. Yea, just think I got something stuck in my throat. Now what was that you were saying again?" he said blushing mildly from embarrassment.

Saria giggled a little and sat down next to him. She knew why Mido was acting like he was, she saw through his awkward motions why he was acting so strange. Although Saria didn't quite feel the same way he did about her, she thought that he was cute. It was rare when Mido gave anything to anyone or did a friendly gesture, and she wanted to encourage it.

"I said I want to teach you my song, it's pretty simple, here take the ocarina so I can show it to you." She handed the shiny green ocarina back over to Mido. Now Mido's ecstasy turned to fear, he was no good at playing ocarina. Mido desperately wanted to leave but his legs wouldn't move. He took the ocarina and placed his fingers on it dumbfounded not knowing what to do. He could feel the sweat start to form on his forehead.

"What's wrong Mido, you look scared or something." Saria said tilting her head curiously at the Kokiri boy. Mido snapped from his fear and smiled nervously at Saria.

"Oh no, nothing's wrong at all." he said clearing his throat. 'oh great' he thought 'first i fall down in front of Saria and now I look scared...she's gonna think im a major wimp before i get out of here today! Not to mention I have no clue how to play this stupid ocarina!'

"Do you know how to play the ocarina?" Saria said while staring at Mido's fingers on the incorrect holes. Mido looked down at the ocarina blankly and after a while finally confessed

"I uh...Not really." Mido admitted.

"That's great!" Saria said giggling. Mido looked back up into her eyes, confused.

"How is that great?" Mido said skeptically raising one eyebrow.

"Because I finally have someone to teach!" she said happily.

"Well, I do know how to play a little." He said trying to put some pride back into himself.

After what seemed forever Saria finally taught Mido how to play her simple tune 'Saria's Song', he had a very hard time despite him claiming to be able to play a little. Saria insisted that he keep the green ocarina that he gave her for now, to practice on. Mido agreed and left the meadow. His feelings were mixed, he was battling between the wonderful feeling of Saria hugging him and the horrible feeling of being embarrassed in front of her.

Back in the village Mido returned to his house and set about some simple chores. He felt encouraged in every way by Saria including being organized. He wanted to impress her. Although Mido's house wasn't really all that messy-that is at least he didn't think so. He actually took great pride in his dwelling. Mido liked to embellish his house to make it look better; after all he was the boss. That's how he liked to think of himself all the time-as The Great Mido, Boss of the Kokiri. He made sure there was no mistaking his house as the bosses' house he had done so by putting a sign out front saying "House of the Great Mido, Boss of the Kokiri."

Before going into his dwelling Mido cut some mushrooms and placed them in a basket for him to eat later. He went inside and gathered up his clothes and headed to the stream to wash them. A Kokiri boy walked up and watched him inquisitively.

"Hey, can you wash mine too?" The boy asked snickering.

"Wash your own duds kid, now scram!" Mido said, mildly annoyed.

"That's girly work Boss, why don't you just start wearing a dress like a girl?" the boy laughed.

"I'm gonna break you like a deku stick if you keep on kid." Mido said while gritting his teeth. He turned and glared at the boy threatening him, when he refused to leave Mido twisted a wet tunic up and snapped the boy with it. The boy yelped and ran away holding his rear.

"Harumph! That otta keep you in line, trouble-maker." Mido grumbled to himself. Even being the biggest and baddest in the Kokiri forest was not enough, you still had little guys like that on your back. Sassy kids like that annoyed Mido beyond imagination, he for one felt like they didnt have enough to do if they had time on their hands to be annoying him. He ought to put the kid to work cutting his grass sometime in the future, or better yet cutting Saria's grass.

Mido hung his laundry to dry inside his house next to the hearth, since he had had bad experiences with leaving it outside to dry. Mido stared blankly at the flames in the hearth as he stoked them one last time. Despite the warmness in his house Mido felt cold. The leaves outside rustled gently with the wind, it was not an cold night for the forest, yet Mido still felt a chill. He knew he was not coming down sick, because the coldness he felt was on the inside. The soup on the hearth bubbled gently, he let his pointed ears pick up the faint sound and listened silently. The colorful brew was made from deku nuts, wild mushrooms, mashroot, and various forest herbs. The soup was one of his favorites, since it was one of Saria's recipes. He just couldn't stop thinking about her; he wanted to have her there with him just to be in her company. He didn't know why he wanted to be near her so badly exactly though. He had stronger feelings recently towards her than he had ever had in the past years; these feelings were very potent physical and emotional desires that Mido had never experienced before. Mido didn't quite know what to think of these new feelings. But he knew that he couldn't resist Saria for much longer. It was almost becoming painful to be away from her.

Mido poured himself a bowl of the soup and sat down to eat. Mido's dining room consisted of a wooden table and two stumps for chairs. Mido's throat clenched when he looked across the table at the empty seat. He felt lonely. He wanted to be out and playing everyday like the other Kokiri, but he had been given the job of being their boss, being boss wasn't easy. There were a lot of things that he wanted, Saria being at the top of the list, then admiration and respect of the other Kokiri, and freedom and carefree-ness. However the one thing that he wanted right now more than anything was the company of someone else, he thought the other Kokiri might drop by his house to see him. Him being their great boss and all. But no Kokiri darkened his doorstep for anything other than solving a problem. He drooped his head and stared at his soup sadly. He felt tears coming but he clenched his eyes when they did, he did not want to cry.

"Hey Mido…" His fairy said quietly sensing his mood.

"What is it?" He said not looking up from his soup.

"Are you feeling lonely again?" she said sitting on the tip of his hat looking down at him. Mido spooned at his soup listlessly.

"Bosses don't get lonely. We can't get lonely, we have too much to do to even think about being lonely." He said with sarcasm in his voice. In a way he didn't want to admit that he felt lonely, but deeply and painfully, he did.

"Oh Mido," The fairy said concerned. "Mido as your fairy I love you, although you may not always think that I do and I will always be here for you, even when no one else will come to see you." The fairy fluttered in front of Mido. Mido extended his finger to the fairy and she landed on it.

"I love you too fairy…" Mido whispered.

The fairy glowed and flitted to Mido's ear.

"You're never alone Mido, I'll always be here with you, I always was…" She whispered gently.

A tear trickled down Mido's round cheek.

"…Yea, I know." He whispered back.

He felt a tickling sensation on his face as his fairy drank the small tear. For some reason fairies always drank their children's tears; it was a way of making themselves closer to their child. Mido himself thought the reason was mostly for cheering him up since the fairies' wings would always tickle his face.

Mido awoke the next morning peacefully. He took his floppy green hat off the wall where it had been hanging and put it on. The water container in his house was low so he grabbed up two buckets and headed to the stream. Continually scooping up the water in the buckets and taking them back to his house time and again had given Mido a bit of a muscular definition in his arms and legs, he liked the hard bumps on his arms that strenuous work produced. Climbing the trees to get deku nuts, and berries had also made his arms more shapely as he had found out. Mido dumped the full buckets into the water store in his house and started taking down his clothes that had dried. The legs on a number of his tunics were shredded at the ends, this most likely due to walking around in bramble bushes looking for berries. Most of the Kokiri's knew how to keep themselves fed, for those who didn't know what was good to eat in the forest either Saria or Mido would tell them if they asked. Mido folded his clothes and stuffed them into a chest at the end of his bed. He felt good leaving his house in good order. Outside, he started to gather up sticks to put in his woodpile for his hearth.

"Mido!" he heard someone call from far off. He turned, alarmed to see one of the twins running towards him. "Mido come quick please!"

Mido sighed. He knew that the Kokiri girl wanted nothing more than the answer to a problem. For him there was no 'Hey Mido, wanna come play?' or 'Hi Mido, how have you been?' or 'Hey Mido, would you dance with me at the festival?' No, it was never that. The only one that gave him the attention he so longed for was Saria.

"What is it now May, what happened?" he said with a hand on his hip.

"My sister, Fay she's sick, real sick, and she can't get out of bed!" she said panting with tears in her eyes.

Mido's expression gravened.

"I'm coming." He said dimly. His mind raced with panic but he managed to keep a calm appearance.

He knew that the twins would not fake being sick to him. He ran with May to the twins' house, which was appropriately a tree with a twin trunk. They ran inside to find the girl Fay breathing heavily in her bed and sweating immensely. Mido placed his hand on her head and pulled it off quickly.

"She's burning up with fever. Get some cold water and rags." He said trying not to make anyone upset. Mido dunked the rags in water and laid them on Fay's head. While Fay lay inside he took May by the arm outside. "What has she eaten lately?" he asked.

"Well…" Fay said hanging her head. "Um…there was…" she said fiddling with her fingers hesitant to answer.

"Come on, what did she eat!?" Mido said angrily.

"I didn't think it would hurt… it was such a pretty blue mushroom!" she blurted out, sobbing as she spoke. Mido gasped. Blue mushrooms were one of the forest's most deadly concoctions.

"You know what I taught you, brown is good, red is good, but anything other than that is bad!" He said scolding.

"I know, but those mushrooms are so ugly." She said with tears flying. Mido sighed in frustration.

"Your sister could die because she ate that pretty blue one!" Mido started towards the lost woods running.

"Wait! Where are you going, you can't leave her!" May said panicking.

"I'm going to find an antidote! Stay with Fay keep the cold rags on her, I...I won't lose a Kokiri!" he screamed.

When Mido reached the lost woods he couldn't think of an antidote off the top of his head so he submitted to asking his fairy since she knew more about the forest than him.

"Hey Fairy! What can I give to May to help her?" He said as he ran along.

"um.. wait a sec...um." The fairy said thinking. "I.. know," she cried joyfully. "I know, I know!!"

"Tell me already! This is important, no kokiri's are gonna die as long as I am in charge!" he said angrily.

"What you need to counteract the poison is limeroot!" She said half afraid at his outburst.

"Great…um where is limeroot?" he said with sarcasm to her boisterousness.

"It likes to grow where the Stalfo's lurk, cause they keep the soil churned up and aerated." she said flitting up and down in front of him as he ran.

"Stalfo's!?" he exclaimed. Mido expressly tried to avoid those creatures in the forest, now he had to go straight for the place he passed over in the forest. "Well, At least it's daytime, they won't be about." He thought to himself.

Finally he reached the clearing were the Stalfo's lurked after a short trek through well-known woods. The clearing was almost muddy in texture from the Stalfo's digging into and digging out of the ground so much. Mido gulped, he had seen Stalfo's before when he wandered into their part of the forest at night. Stalfo's were walking skeletons and sought to kill children, they were originally people who had wandered into the lost woods. They scared him terribly. He thought of Fay lying in bed with fever, she would die if he didn't get her the antidote. Everyone would blame it on him, and the Kokiri whom already didn't really like him would hate him more. And Saria, what would she think if he didn't get an antidote back in time to Fay? Would she hate him too? He just couldn't risk that at all, to loose Saria's admiration would be to loose his whole meaning, he just couldn't let that happen. Mido's fists clenched with determination.

"Stupid Stalfo's, you aren't stopping me… Harumph! I'm the great Mido!" he said striking a bold pose.

"Mido, there's the limeroot, it's in that cluster of growth in the middle there, see it?" the fairy said pointing.

"Yeah, I see it." he whispered back from behind the bushes.

"You'd better hurry." the fairy said.

Mido came out from behind the bushes he stepped on the muddy ground carefully. The ground stirred and the sound of scratching arose. He pulled his foot away quickly.

"They're sleeping." Mido whispered.

If Mido walked across the mud, they would all wake up; he had to think of something. In the corner of Mido's eye he spied a thin tree trunk lying on the ground.

"Perfect…" he whispered to himself. Mido picked up the slim tree trunk and laid it across the mud to the spot where the limeroot was, it was no problem, the tree was thin and his arms were strong, strong he thought for a Kokiri. He stepped up onto the tree trunk; because it was so thin it was like a balancing act, he worked his way carefully to where the limeroot was. There was a definite tart smell coming from the limeroot and when he pulled it out of the ground it was even worse, his eyes started to water. He now knew why it was called 'limeroot' as the root of the plant was green and shaped like a lime. Mido stuffed the limeroot into his pocket. Having a feeling of accomplishment he stepped quickly across the log to head back. As he reached the end of the log it gave way and cracked loudly beneath his foot. He looked down dumbfounded and froze. The mud started moving violently.

"Watch out!" His fairy called to him.

"Ya think!?" He called back sarcastically.

Mido started to bolt and run from the clearing, but something grabbed his ankle violently.

Mido fell and screamed in fear. The skeleton hand of a Stalfo had grabbed him. It's muddy skull rose out of the ground, it's red eyes were glowing. Mido gave forth a shriek of pure terror and tried to yank his foot away but the Stalfo's grip was secure he wasn't going to go anywhere but down, down into the mud with the Stalfo. He just couldn't let that happen. He clawed violently at anything that might give him hold against the Stalfo.

"Let go, let go of my foot! AHH!" Mido screamed in terror. Mido's fairy tried distracting the Stalfo to help him.

"Hey! Hey! Hey stupid skeleton thingy!" She cried with maximum annoyance.

The Stalfo swatted at the fairy and knocked her out of the way. The fairy went tumbling through the air and landed some distance away.

"Hey!! That was my fairy you big bone-bag!!" Mido kicked the Stalfo in the skull with his free foot. The Stalfo yelped but didn't release his grip. It narrowed its eyes at Mido in anger.

Other Stalfo's were starting to dig out of the ground as he lied there trying to get away. Desperately he searched in his pockets for something. His finger stumbled onto the smooth roundness of a deku nut. Mido threw the deku nut at the Stalfo. A greenish-blue haze came over the Stalfo meaning that he had successfully stunned it. However, it's grip on his ankle loosened as it was stunned, but not enough to free him. Mido found some deku seeds in his pocket and quickly loaded them in his slingshot. He aimed for the round black holes where the red eyes of the Stalfo's resided. He let it go, he heard a clang as the nut hit its intended target and the creature reeled in pain. Mido managed to yank his foot from its grasp and bolted; he ran as fast as he could, but he could hear the bony footsteps of the Stalfos behind him. Gasping and throbbing with fear he scooped up his fairy and ran. He knew that the Stalfo's would not leave their clearing in the day.

Mido didn't stop running, he ran and ran, all the way back to the village with the limeroot in his possession. In the house of the twins he came in huffing and puffing. After about a minute of gasping attempts at speech from Mido, his fairy finally spoke for him. She had recovered from her run-in with the Stalfo and was now fluttering about with her normal energy.

"Mido has the antidote, mash the juice out of it and make her drink it." she said hovering over the other Kokiri's.

Mido handed over the odd plant to May, she did as she was told and administered the antidote to Fay. Mido sat on a chair in the corner, he held his chest, he was scared to death and tired from running. A hand offered him a cup of water; he accepted it and drank deeply. He slammed the cup to the table with relief and looked across the table, Saria was sitting there smiling back at him. He choked on his breath; he hadn't even noticed her when he came in.

"Will Fay be alright?" She asked.

Mido looked down in shyness.

"She should be fine. The limeroot should soak up the poison in her belly." He said still panting.

Mido felt a warm hand on his. Startled, he jumped and almost jerked his hand away. After he realized that it was Saria's hand, he was very glad that he hadn't.

"That was very brave, what you did," Saria said quietly.

Mido stopped and stared at her hand on his. He watched as she gently caressed his hand so lovingly. His heart started to beat as it did when he saw the Stalfo's. But he didn't understand why. Saria was no Stalfo, and she was a heck of a lot more pleasing to look at.

"Yea, I know, I had to fight off a dozen Stalfo's to get it." Mido said arrogantly, beating a fist on his chest.

May rolled her eyes from across the room.

"You're a very good leader Mido, you take good care of all of us." Saria said giggling.

Mido swelled with pride, Saria did notice him! Mido tried to think of more things that he could add to make himself look even better, but something told him to keep his mouth shut.

"Thanks." He said smiling at her.

Mido got up from the table and snapped his knuckles.

"May, I've got some things I need to assign to you and your sister," he said with his hands on his hips.

"Aw come on Mido, you can't punish us until Fay is better!" May said stamping her foot on the ground impatiently.

Hey! Is this the thanks I get for risking my life to save your sister? She will be fine in a day or two, and when she is I want you guys to get some practice collecting the right mushrooms. I want you two to pick mushrooms for me for a month, just so I can make sure you get the right ones."

May frowned in response.

"I hate picking mushrooms, they grow in such icky places." May said making a funny face.

"Well, I could have you do something worse, like wash my clothes for a month if you'd like."

May sat down next to where her sister was lying.

"Ok" she grumbled looking down, "You saved my sister, after all."

Mido smiled with satisfaction and turned to leave.

"Anything's better than washing your smelly clothes." She mumbled. Mido stopped and clenched his fist, but kept walking, as if he didn't hear her.

He headed towards the know-it-all brothers house. A group of boys were sitting inside the house huddled together; they were playing a game with deku seeds. There was a ring drawn on the floor and they were shooting colored deku nuts at a cluster of non-colored deku nuts. Mido leaned in the doorway; he watched them with a yearning. A yearning to be free of responsibility and play like them. He thought in his mind about whether or not he would punish them for being lazy. He decided to brag to them instead.

"I guess you guys have all heard by now." Mido said leaning in the doorway with a hand on his hip.

The boys looked up from their game confused.

"Heard what?" one of them said.

"Don't tell me you don't know." Mido said tapping his foot impatiently.

"We know it all Mido, that's why we're the know it all brothers." One of them said sarcastically.

Mido glared in the boys direction and tapped his foot.

"Well, this is one thing you don't know." He took a seat by the fire and crossed his arms.

The boys left their game unfinished on the floor and gave Mido their attention.

"There I was this morning came outta my house and one of the twins was running to me crying 'Mido help, help, please, you're the only one who can help, cause your such a great leader' I of course heeded her cry for assistance and followed her back to her house where his sis Fay was lyin on the bed, sick as a deku scrub from eating a bad mushroom. I fixed her up the best i could and went to the lost woods for a antidote, cause only good leaders like me know where antidotes like that can be found." Mido felt something bump him and turned to see his fairy hovering, displeased. "Well, my fairy helped a little with finding it." he said glancing at his fairy. Mido was reluctant to share credit.

"Turns out the antidote only grows where the Stalfo's lurk, so I rushed in being the brave Kokiri I am and tromped through their mud and grabbed that antidote and wasted the lot of them as they woke up. They didn't even know what was coming to them when the great Mido stepped onto their turf. Anyways I brought it back and fixed up Fay and now thanks to the great Mido, she is alive and well. May was so happy that she offered to pick mushrooms for me for a month." he said grinning. Mido had known he had stretched the truth, but he figured it would make the guys envy him that much more. The know it all brothers gave him a speculative glance and continued their game of deku nuts. A young Kokiri boy looked up at Mido with wide blue eyes.

"That's neat-o Mido, I wanna be like you when I grow up." he said with a look of pure envy.

Mido scruffed the boys blonde hair and smiled. He liked someone looking up to him. The small boy was the youngest of the Kokiri and had arrived at the forest two years ago, as an infant. Where he had came from was a bit of a mystery, The Great Deku tree had summoned one of the girls to him one day and she returned home holding a child in her arms. The boy smiled at Mido and held his arms out; he wanted Mido to pick him up. Mido gave in and picked the boy up, he bounced him up into the air once and held him in his arms.

"Hey you're real cute kid. When you getting a fairy?" Mido asked the small boy. The boy shrugged, unknowing.

"Well I hope you get one soon, you'll be needing one." He said putting the boy down. The child smiled at Mido and sat back down by the hearth. One of the know it all brothers offered him a cookie and he took it happily and gnawed on it contentedly as he stared upwards at Mido. Mido decided to show off a little to the boy.

"You guys want arms like this?" Mido said flexing his arm to reveal a small hard bump. "You gotta do a lot a liftin to get 'em like this."

The small boys eyes fixed onto Mido's muscle, the small boy flexed his own arm, comparing it to Mido's. The boy was the only one in the village that didn't have a fairy. Mido knew that a fairy would probably come to him when he got older; the boy was still very young he had recently learned to walk. One of the older boys challenged Mido to an arm wrestling competition, Mido accepted.

"Don't worry I'll go easy on you." Mido said laughing.

They sat on opposite sides of the table and gripped hands at the count of three they began. At first the competition was going nowhere, Mido and the boy seemed equally matched. Then the boy started making Mido's arm turn down to the table, Mido panicked. With every ounce of adrenaline he had in his body, Mido pushed at his arm, willing it to not fail him. Mido gritted his teeth and he could feel the blood pulsing through his skull. Slowly and surely Mido's arm gained the upper hand and the boys arm got closer and closer to the table. Mido spared a glance up at his opponent, his face was red. Mido strained with his last ounce of strength and defeated the boy, once again proving his dominance among the Kokiri. A bead of sweat ran down Mido's face, he raised his first and yelled.

"Harumph! The great Mido is victor once again!"

The boys congratulated him on winning.

"Alright Mido!" one of them said slapping him on the shoulder. Mido swelled with pride.

"Yea well I'd like to hang around, but being the boss and all, i got business." Mido excused himself from the house quickly. Once Mido was outside he panted and wiped the sweat from his face, he held his wrist in his hand and winced. He had almost lost the arm wrestling contest, he knew it.

Mido thought it best to have a good nap after the excitement, so he returned to his house. Inside the hearth was going, he looked at it puzzled; when he left the fire was extinguished. He looked to his right and found the reason it was going. Saria sat at his table looking at him. Mido froze and he bit his lip, Saria had never been in his house before.

"I'm sorry for barging in uninvited. I needed to see the ocarina again." She said quickly.

Mido's knees turned to jelly.

"Oh yea, its ok. Sorry I was out, I just finished an arm wrestling competition." He said grinning while flexing his muscle.

"That's nice," she said looking at his arm skeptically. "Who won?" she asked.

"Why me of course, who else?" he said arrogantly, disbelieving her question.

"Right, um, that ocarina you gave me, can I see it again?" Saria said trying to avoid the subject of Mido.

"Yea sure you can see it," He smiled and sat down across from her smoothly. He handed her the ocarina.

"Welcome to the house of the great Mido." He said enthusiastically. "I, uh would you like some soup or something?" Mido said looking at the pot half full of soup on the hearth.

"Actually I already had some, I hope you don't mind. I was just so hungry, and I hadn't really had anything to eat today. It was very good though, I can't believe it, that soup is my recipe but you just made it taste so much better!" She said.

"Oh." Mido said blushing slightly "Uh, thanks." He wondered just how long Saria had been in his house. He wondered to himself if she had went through any of his things. He knew Saria would never do that, but he still liked to entertain himself with the thought.

"You know," Saria said looking around "I never thought this is what the inside of your house would look like," she said curling the tips of her green hair with her fingers. "I thought it would be more…messy."

Now Mido was thankful that he had tidied his house the day before. Relief flooded over him.

"Yep, well, I try. I'm running a tight village here and bosses gotta be organized." He said leaning back in his chair.

Saria took out a piece of paper and unfolded it. The paper had some rough drawings on it she looked at the ocarina long and hard and then the paper. After a while of study she folded up the paper and put it back in her pocket.

"Just what I thought." She said.

"What is it?" Mido said dazing off.

"This ocarina is very special, and it belongs in the forest temple. I don't know exactly what it is used for but there seems to be a strong association between it and the spirits of the forest." she said running her hand over the smooth, shiny surface of the green ocarina.

"Well then, why don't we just put it back in the temple?" Mido inquired, starting to get bored.

"I don't know, I'm unsure how it even got outside the temple unless something found its way to it in the temple and tried to steal it or something." she said concerned.

"We could ask the Deku tree what to do with it…" Mido said trying to spew solutions out. Mido knew the ocarina was what had brought Saria to his house, but it was boring to him to talk about it. It was a hunk of clay...who cares?

"That might be best, but it upsets me about the temple…" Saria said quivering.

"You really love the temple don't you?" Mido asked inquizitively.

"It's all I can think about most of the time. I feel so peaceful there. You should come to the temple with me one day, I can show you everything inside." she said looking up at him.

"I've been in there once, or twice, I didn't really find it interesting." he admitted. He locked eyes with her for a moment. The red-orange glow of the hearth lit her face up in his dim house. A feeling of dizzyness came over him as he thought how dreadfully beautiful she was at that moment.

"There's a lot more than you think in there. Anyways I need to go, I'm gonna check up on the twins and then take care of things at my house." she said while gathering up her things.

Mido sighed inside; he didn't want Saria to leave. Panicking, he stood up and walked with her to the doorway.

"Make sure Fay has drank all the limeroot juice, ok?" he said following close behind her.

"I will." she said reassuring him.

"And Saria…" he asked.

"Yes Mido?" she said looking back into his eyes.

"..Um, thanks for stopping by." he said smiling.

"No problem." she said nodding.

"And Saria…" he asked again, trying desperately to stall her.

"Yes?" she said.

"Um…uh…I..uh." he said stumbling in his words.

"What is it Mido? Don't be afraid to ask me." she said smiling.

"I really really wish you wouldn't leave." he said looking at her pitifully.

Saria smiled and looked down at the floor for a moment. Hesitating at the doorway; she turned and looked at Mido. She smiled at him. He acted so big and bad, but inside he felt alone. He really was a pitiful site.

"Oh Mido, your sweet." Saria said caressing his round, freckled cheek gently. Leaning in she touched her lips to his cheek, and kissed him softly. She really did care about him. She pulled back from Mido before turning to leave. Mido was in a pure daze; with his eyes closed he gently swayed a little with his arms limp at his sides. Saria left quickly, looking back one last time to see him still standing there in the doorway with his eyes closed. She almost giggled.

Mido's knees gave out and he fell to the floor, holding his cheek in utter shock. Had she kissed him? Was it all a dream? Mido waited to wake up from what seemed an impossible moment. After several moments of sitting and staring at the wall while holding his cheek, Mido grabbed onto the side of a pot and lifted himself up off the floor. Passing by his mirror, he stopped. He looked for a remnant of the kiss on his cheek, he could not see it, but he could definitely still feel her warm lips on his face. Smiling, he fell into his small bed. His fairy peeked out from under his hat.

"Mido, you seem very happy! " she said giggling.

"Saria…Saria." He said stuttering.

"Saria likes you Mido!" the fairy said sitting on his chest.

"She _kissed_ me."

"I saw, she likes it when you do nice things."

"I don't think I've ever felt anything so nice in my life, she really cares…and she thinks I'm sweet!"

"Aww Mido.." the fairy said swooning at the happy moment for her partner.

Remaining quiet, Mido rolled over and slept. He couldn't move for the shock of a girl kissing him not just any girl but Saria, the most beautiful girl in all of the forest.

That night he dreamt of Saria, he chased her through the woods, desperately trying to catch up to her. She ran up the stairs to the forest temple and when he tried to follow the stairs disappeared.

"No, come back!" he cried, awakening from his dream. In the dim light his eyes adjusted and he realized it was a dream. Sitting up in his bed, he sat for a while thinking about what his dream could have meant, but he had no idea. He thought of the night before again, and of the kiss he received. He played out the moment over and over in his head…wondering just how he had landed that kiss. He rubbed his eyes and gave up on trying to find the answer, he got dressed and left his house. When he was outside walking down the path he noticed two girls standing next to the entrance of the lost woods. Being curious, he strode up the path to where they were. They were just standing there staring into the hole that leads to the lost woods.

"What are you two doin?" he asked confused.

"Quiet!" one said.

"Don't you hear the noise?" the other one asked.

Mido tapped his foot impatiently. He turned his head to let his pointed ear pick up the sounds coming from the woods. At first he could faintly hear it, the sound of hooves on the ground, and snorting.

He put his hands on his hips.

"Oh good grief...Sounds like a wild pig or something, nothing to be worried about, they come around once in a while." he said starting to leave

The girls looked at each other, then at Mido.

"Keep listening." One said.

"Sheesh what could it possibly be?" he said annoyed.

Suddenly the sound of squealing arose so loudly it knocked Mido off his feet.

"What in the-" Mido screamed terrified. Both the girls ran behind him and shivered.

"I don't think that's just a piggy." One said.

As they looked into the dark entrance to the lost woods, they could hear hooves clacking against wood. Two red slits appeared in the tunnel that led to the lost woods. Mido braced himself, and was frozen with fear. A large black hairy beast stepped out into the light, its head and tusks were enormous, and its small tail twisted and curled. The beast snorted loudly, and the blast from its nostrils nearly ripped Mido's shirt off of him.

"That's no piggy, that's a BOAR!" Mido cried pointing. "Run!"

The boar squealed again, it was deafening and two more of the giants stepped out into the light. Him and the girls left in a panic. As he ran Mido stuck his hand down his shirt and pulled out the small horn he wore around his neck. It was the alarm. He blew it as hard as he could as he ran through the village. The Kokiri poured out of their houses quickly, looking about frantically.

"What is it Mido?" one said.

"Wild boar! Run!" he said panting.

All of the Kokiri were present, except for Saria.

"Where's Saria?" he yelled.

"She's at the sacred forest meadow, she told me she would be there today." Fay said.

Mido heard a loud rumble that knocked him off his feet. He turned in the direction of his tree house, which was now a stump. A boar stood triumphant on the stump of what was left of his house. The boars were cutting down their trees.

"Oh my gosh!" A boy cried. "That boar took out that house tree!"

"That was my house tree!" Mido said in shock and awe.

"We have to go to the great deku tree! He will know what to do!" A girl cried.

"Yes he will protect us!" another cried.

Mido had a sharp pain of a thought. He pictured a boar cutting into the side of his beloved father tree.

"NO!" he cried panicking.

"Why Mido why?" a boy said.

"If we lead those beasts to him, they could kill him! Look what they did to our houses, the great deku tree would've stopped them from ever getting here, this must be out of his power!"

A look of terror came over the Kokiri.

"Then what shall we do Mido?" the blonde girl asked.

"We'll hold up in the Forest temple! Maybe they will go away after a while!"

The Kokiri followed Mido's lead. They clambered up to the opening of the lost woods as the boars were kept busy cutting down their house trees. A Kokiri held back as she saw her house tree being brought down, there were tears in her eyes. Mido grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

"Come on!" he cried.

They made their way through the lost woods to the temple. They all moved as fast as they could. Mido heard the cry of a boy; he turned to see a younger Kokiri with his foot stuck under a root.

"Help me!" the boy cried.

Mido recognized the boy as the one who had said he wanted to grow up to be like him. Mido and two older boys ran to aid him. His foot was twisted under the root.

"It hurts Mido!" the small boy said with tears in his eyes.

They heaved at the root as Mido pulled the boy. Finally his foot came free but it had cost them precious time. Mido carried the boy and desperately tried with the other boys to catch up to the rest of the group.

As they clambered up the steps to the forest temple they heard the sound of hooves in the background.

"They're really close!" one of the know it-all-brothers cried in fear.

"Keep going! We're almost there." Mido screamed back.

They could hear the sound more and more vividly; Mido couldn't bear to look behind him to see how close they were. They finally got to the entrance of the forest temple. Saria stood up as she saw them all coming.

"What's going on!?" she said alarmed.

Mido huffed and puffed. He handed the boy over to one of the know-it-all brothers and he carried him inside the temple.

"Into the temple everyone!" he said panting.

"What's going on Mido!?" Saria demanded as she watched the Kokiri crowd into the temple.

"No time to explain, Saria! Get in the temple!" he pleaded.

The sound of hooves was all too close. Mido turned to see the hairy face of a boar staring at him. The smell was overwhelming, and the Boar drooled as it scented him then turned to Saria. It raised its huge head and lunged at her. Mido grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way. The boar crashed through the tree behind her, cutting it down. Mido kept hold of her and ran up the steps to the temple door. The boar squealed in anger. As they reached the top of the steps the boar angrily smashed into them.

"Boars!?" she cried.

"Yes, and there will be more!" Mido yelled pulling her into the temple. Mido slammed the door behind him and barred it with some fallen logs. The Kokiri all stood looking at him. Responsibility hit him hard, the lives of all the Kokiri were now in his hands. Two wolfos appeared wagging their tails and panting. A Kokiri girl hugged its furry neck sadly. Wolfos didn't hurt Kokiri but were hostile towards anything else. They howled mournfully. One trotted up to Mido and nuzzled him.

"Hey you'll help us out won't you?" he whispered.

The wolfo licked his face, and its greenish eyes glowed.

"Please stand watch for us, tell us if the boars break in."

Although there was no response, Mido knew the wolfo understood him. They were very loving and loyal creatures to the Kokiri and the Kokiri only.

Mido moved the Kokiri further into the temple, in the center chamber. It was very dim in the center chamber. Saria moved on ahead of them and lit some torches and candles. To Mido, her presence made the room light up without the candles.

"I know a lot of you have never been here before. This is a sanctuary, where the spirits of the forest dwell. You all will be safe for the time being, because the spirits are protecting us, but they can't protect us for long. This place holds many secrets and much knowledge. I know there is a solution to this evil, and I know we can find the answer in here."

Saria looked at the boy with the twisted ankle, tearstains speckled with dirt were on his face.

"Everyone, go through the temple, look for something that might answer our problem."

Mido watched as Saria rubbed some herbs on the boy's foot and wrapped in with a large leaf. She kissed the boy on the forehead and smiled. Mido's throat clenched in the sweetness of Saria's act. But his throat also clenched in jealousy. He hoped that would be the last time that Saria would kiss him.

"You better go look too." Saria said. Mido looked down shyly and walked away. He knew all of the others doors had already been taken by other Kokiri. He stood thinking for a moment and heard a noise behind him. Saria was pulling back a patch of vines on the wall. There before her was a door, she opened it and went inside. Curious, Mido followed and pulled the vines back to see the same strange green door. He opened it and went inside. Saria was kneeling on the floor in front of an altar, candles were burning everywhere. Up on altar sitting was a woman. Mido reeled back, in surprise. Her beauty was overwhelming. The woman looked down at Saria sadly, she had green hair just as Saria did and bright green eyes. She was clothed in beautiful robes and she wore a necklace made of red berries, leaves flowed out of her hair, no, they were part of her hair. The woman was a Dryad! Mido couldn't believe his eyes. The living spirit of a tree was before him, a Dryad.

"Please help us, help us to stop the boars, help us to find an answer," Saria prayed to the Dryad. The Dryad smiled and tilted her head as she looked at Saria. She blinked sadly and answered her.

"This is an evil which requires much stronger powers than what defenses you have." She spoke softly.

"You all are the children of this forest, you must realize all children have protectors, it just depends on if the child cries out for help loud enough for those guardians to hear you."

"I don't understand, we have guardians? How do we call to them?"

"The ocarina, use the ocarina of the forest. Play their song and they will come."

"What song?" Saria pleaded.

"You will find it. I will hold off the evil as long as my power permits, so hurry little one." She said, she looked up at Mido, smiled then vanished into a ball of green lights that flew away.

Saria looked downward for a moment and sniffed sadly. Mido placed a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. Saria jumped, startled.

"How did you get in here?" she demanded.

"I-I, was curious." He stuttered. "Look, I will help you find the song."

"You heard everything huh? And now you know my secret."

"I wont tell, cross my heart and hope to die."

"Alright" she said sighing "Lets find the song." She pulled out the green ocarina that was now known as the Forest ocarina. "Who'd have known, a little ocarina as this would have the power to save us all?" She said in awe.

"Yea, I guess it's a good thing I found that.." Mido said

"Ya it is." Saria said back smiling.

Saria and Mido split up looking through the temple for the melody. They found nothing. They both returned to the main chamber, their search in vain. The other children were too petrified to come out from the far chambers. Mido sat down on a step and held his head in his hands; he didn't know what to do. He looked to the middle of the room. The young Kokiri boy was sitting there humming to himself at the middle of the four torches that lit the room. Mido walked over to him and sat beside him.

"Are you scared kid?"

The boy shook his head no and blinked his blue eyes innocently.

"Why should I be scared, you're here."

The boy continued to hum.

Mido looked at the boy in awe, he was the only one in the whole village who truly liked him, the responsibility of being a boss was hard, but the rewards were great.

"What's your name kid?" Mido asked.

"Link." The boy responded.

"Link?" he asked.

"Mmhmm." The boy nodded.

"That's a weird name." He put his arm around the kid who continued to hum to himself. Saria was still searching the room for the song.

"What are you hummin kid?"

"The temple song." He said.

"The temple song huh? Did you make that up yourself?" he asked.

Link shook his head no and pointed to each torch in the middle of the room. Mido followed his finger to see a musical note on each torch. Mido's eyes went wide, it was the song.

"Saria! We found it!" he cried. Saria turned and ran toward them.

"Where!"

"Right where we least expected it, right under our nose!" he cried. Mido pointed to each torch in the room. Saria recognized the notes and pulled out the ocarina.

The howl of wolfos lifted and filled the chamber.

"Oh no, hurry Saria!" Mido said.

Mido hoped that the wolfos were not hurt.

"Wait I don't know which note to start with!" she said panicking.

A wolfos yelped outside and they heard the sound of hooves and squealing. Mido braced for the door to be knocked in and the dark shapes to come running in.

"Hurry Saria!" Mido said panicking.

"If I start with the wrong note it might not work!" she cried back.

Mido pulled out his slingshot and loaded it aiming for the door. It started to crack and bow in. Mido could see a horrendous tusk poking through. A bead of sweat ran down Mido's face, he knew this might be the end for all of them.

Link looked up at Saria.

"The song go like this" he said humming out the tune.

"How do you know?" Saria asked.

"Because the colors, from dark to light." He said simply.

Link was right the order was based on color. Saria took a last look at all the notes and started to play.

The door to the temple busted inward. The boar's ugly head protruded into the temple and it squealed loudly. Mido rained him with a spray of deku seeds from his slingshot. The boar winced but kept coming. Saria sounded the first note on the ocarina. The boar turned towards her and squealed in outrage. It stamped its sharp hooves on the stone floor and churned its legs heading for Saria; it was determined to not miss her this time. Mido ran out in front of the boar.

"Hey pig face look at me!" he cried. The boar stopped and ran after Mido in rage. The boar took hold of Mido with a tusk and flung him across the room. He landed with a crack against the wall and was still. The boar stamped down it's sharp hooves again and headed for Saria.

The boar came within inches of Saria and stopped. Saria lowered the ocarina, she had finished the song. The sound of hooves clacking against stone was heard. Saria feared she had played the wrong song, she feared she had summoned more boars. The torches around her started burning white. The boar stood petrified. The red eyes of the boar narrowed as the light hit them and the long black hairs on its back stood on end. Saria heard a high-pitched neighing behind her. Turning she froze. Before her trotting up was a glowing white animal. On it's neck swayed pale white hair, and a long lion-like tail swished behind it. A shining horn emerged from the ball of light. She gasped. It was a unicorn. Unicorns were their guardians. It glowed all over with pureness; she could feel its strength. She noticed Ivy braided into its main. In the forest Ivy only grew on sacred things. The unicorn walked past her briskly and stood between her and the boar. The unicorn looked at the boar with calm black eyes. The boar snorted and squealed, frisking its yellow gnarled tusks from side to side. With a flick of it curled tail it lowered its head and tried to attack Saria.

The unicorn neighed and intervened like lightning, lowering its head and stabbing the boar in the neck with its horn. The boar squealed and fell. The unicorn neighed and swished its long lion-like tail in triumph. The stab from the horn of the unicorn was like poison to the boar, it died quickly and dissipated. In a flash of light two more unicorns appeared. The unicorns stood together in front of Saria and the boy they waved their horns at the boars, threatening them. A boar charged at one of them testing it. The unicorn stabbed his horn into the boar and reared its head, flinging the boar against the wall. The boar hit the wall with a bone-cracking thud. The unicorns were much stronger than they looked. One boar remained, and it backed up cautiously. The unicorns neighed at him. The boar charged, and narrowly missed a unicorn with its tusks. The boar flung its head back wildly and squealed. A unicorn stepped in to stab it, but the boar blocked its horn with its bony tusks. The other unicorn kicked it hard with its back hooves; the boar fell onto his side and slid across the floor with the impact. The power that the unicorns packed was amazing, they had such delicate frames yet pocessed such great power. The boar rose up on its stumpy legs, and quickly turned and fled. Two unicorns pursued it. While one unicorn remained.

"All is safe little one." The remaining unicorn said to them.

"Mido!" Link said sadly on the floor pointing to the fallen Kokiri.

Saria looked across the room mournfully at Mido's body. His fairy was trying to wake him up in vain. Saria ran to him. She tried to wake him up, but after she touched his cold limp body she knew it was too late. Link, unable to walk, crawled to Mido. When he realized the cold fact the Mido was gone, he bawled uncontrollably. Saria held Link in her arms and tried to comfort him. But it was no use, he couldn't stop crying. It was only the warm soft nose of the unicorn against his tear stained face that stopped his wailing.

Saria looked down at Mido, she reached out and held his hand.

"Mido, you had to go and do that didn't you? You had to be the hero." She said stroking his orange hair. "You aren't a meanie like everyone says you are." Saria wiped a small tear from her face. "You were a good boss. I could see that in you...and I..."

A small ball of yellow light became visible. It was Mido's fairy. She hovered next to the unicorn and slowly drifted near its ear.

"Please," The fairy said "Please, help him."

"You couldn't help him guardian fairy?" The unicorn asked.

"He placed himself in harms way, and I didn't have the power to intervene."

Another tear ran down Saria's face.

"He saved me, he saved everyone, and if he hadn't done what he did I wouldn't have been able to summon you."

The unicorn turned its head toward the boy and squinted.

"I can help him, but there is a catch. It will take all my power to bring him back to this realm, and I will not have the power to protect you anymore."

"But what about the other Unicorns?" Saria asked.

"The other unicorns will not be able to work without me, because we work as the triforce, as one."

"Mido did a great job of protecting us. We need him, he's our boss, and we love him."

The unicorn nodded.

"I sense that you love him a lot more than any of the other Kokiri…you pity him." The unicorn said as its bright white maine swayed in the stillness of the temple.

"Well, yes…I guess I do. No-one else was really nice to him, I felt like he needed someone to be nice to him." She admitted hesitantly.

"He still does…" The unicorn said quietly.

"How do you know?" Saria asked.

"I can sense all his feelings from his spirit, and he has a great amount of love and devotion in his soul…for you." The unicorn said with it's black eyes affixed to Saria.

Saria stood quietly looking at Mido's body for a moment. She remembered Mido's dumbfounded stare whenever he looked at her and how cool he was always trying to be around her. She looked down at Mido again then burst into tears.

"I know! And I know now more than ever now! Mido, my friend, why did you have to do that for me? Unicorn please bring him back, he is a friend that I just can't bear to loose!"

The unicorn nuzzled her gently,

"We will bring back your friend Saria, there's no need to shed any more tears."

"What do you mean? You will not be here, we will loose our guardians that will be _very_ sad.."

"We are just guardians Saria, you will manage without us, you did just fine before." the unicorn reassured her.

Saria looked up at the pure white body.

"Your presence here would be loved by all, even in spirit."

The unicorn nuzzled Saria.

"Our presence may go unnoticed, but only by those who don't know how to see us. We will dwell here in spirit. We love children; they bear innocence, which is what all unicorns love. I am sorry that we will not be able to protect you anymore, but we will add the power of our spirits to this temple." Suddenly the other two unicorns appeared. They watched as the first unicorn gently touched his horn to Mido's forehead. The unicorn's body lit the entire room and then all the unicorns vanished turning into countless orbs of white light. They dissipated throughout the temple. Saria watched sadly as the last spec of light vanished.

"They're gone, but they are still here in the temple in spirit." Saria said sadly to Link. Mido moved slowly. Saria put her hand on his chest and his blue eyes opened quickly and he sat up, alarmed.

"He's alive!" His fairy screamed happily. The ball of light swirled and twirled around his body happily.

"Oh Mido!" Saria said squeezing him with a hug,

"What happened?" he said terrified.

"Thank you for saving me, for saving all of us!"

She kissed him on the cheek. Mido choked on his further inquiries.

Mido looked into her eyes, he wanted to say something but couldn't. He tried again but the words wouldn't come out. He settled with just smiling at her.

Saria looked at the ocarina.

"We can never call for them again." She said sadly.

"Who?" Mido said confused.

"It turns out our guardians were unicorns." She said remembering the gentle white horses.

"That's something, wish I could have been able to see." Mido said.

"It's ok Saria! We may not have unicorns but we gots Mido to protect us." The Kokiri boy said faithfully.

"Yea, that's right you got me, and I can protect you!" he said sticking out his chest boldly.

Mido called all the Kokiri to the main chamber. They said they had heard what was happening but were too afraid to come out. He sent them all back to the village to assess damage and clean up, he remained with Saria to clean up the damaged temple. The entrance was severely damaged from the boars. The stairs had been smashed and they had no way of repairing them that they knew of. Also to Saria's despair her favorite tree had been destroyed all that was left was the stump. The boars had stripped the vegetation from all the trees that they had not cut down.

"I wonder why we had unicorns as our guardians?" Saria asked Mido.

"I don't know, a lot of times I wonder just who built this temple in the first place." He said picking up some more debris and putting it in the pile.

"Yea, me too" Saria said.

"Saria?" Mido asked trying to take advantage of the quiet moment.

"Yes, Mido?" she said locking eyes with him.

"I um, I need to tell you something." he said looking down shyly.

"What is it?" she said smiling gently.

Mido stayed silent. His fairy bumped him on the shoulder, encouraging him to tell his secret to Saria.

"I…I.. really, really like you. I mean I like you a whole lot more than anyone else and you are very special to me." He finally said.

Saria smiled sadly.

"Really?"

"Yea." he said shyly.

Saria hugged him gently and cried.

"Thats so sweet of you...but.." She said with tears rolling out of her eyes. He wasn't sure why she cried, but he tried to comfort her the best he could.

"It'll be alright Saria.." he said gently.

"I'm sorry. It's not you, trust me, it really isn't." Saria wiped a tear from her face. "I had a dream, I dreamt that I ran to the forest temple because there were bad spirits there, I wanted to do something about it. But once I entered the temple, I could never come back. I couldn't even see my fairy anymore." She cried.

Mido remembered his dream that he had. It coincided with Saria's perfectly.

"Saria..." Mido started to say. Mido didn't really know what to tell Saria, he surely didn't want to loose her.

Suddenly Mido saw a ball of light enter the forest temple; it was another fairy.

"Hi! My name's Navi, the great deku tree has summoned you both, come on!"

Saria and Mido followed the small blue fairy to the Deku tree. On the way to the deku tree, Mido couldn't help but stop and look at the village. It was worse than he thought, mangled branches stripped of vegetation lay everywhere, and every single house tree was now a stump, every last one. Mido's throat clenched. The house trees would still be livable, but it just wouldn't be the same without their towering frames overlooking the village.

They reached the Great Deku tree finally. His broad wooden face towered over them, and his foliage stretched out indefinitely.

"Come to me my children, let me tell you about what has happened."

Saria took hold of Mido's hand and they walked closer to the Deku tree. She dried what remained of her tears with her sleeve and sniffed sadly.

"A powerful evil has befallen the land. A man with a wicked heart has entered into Hyrule. Those black boars that he sent were just a warning to the forest dwellers. The power that they held was beyond me, their powers were aimed toward beings of life. You did the right thing Mido, by leading the Kokiri to the temple, where spirits dwell and not the living. The boars proved to have no real power over spirits. I feel that the power of the spirits will become increasingly important in the near future."

Mido spared a glance at Saria. They heard a whining crack of timber as a small branch fell from the great tree.

"Great Deku Tree are you alright?" Mido cried upwards to the large tree.

"Yes my son I am fine. I would like to tell you both about when I was a sapling, and the forest was young, a people came to these woods seeking shelter. They were elves, and naturally they loved the woods. I permitted these people to live here in the woods without turning into monsters. These people built a temple for the forest spirits and a small village. They lived here many years happily, but one spring a horrible spell came over the forest and they disappeared, and they left behind many newborn infants. With no parents to care for the infants I sent the fairies of the forest to raise the children."

Mido gave a confused look.

"What happened to the kids?" Mido asked confused.

"You and all the other Kokiri are those children, Mido." The Great Deku Tree said. Mido looked down in disbelief for a moment, then looked back up at the huge tree.

"Why didn't you ever tell us? I thought we were your children." Mido said looking up sadly.

"Mido, I would've told you earlier, but the time was not right. If I had revealed it to you sooner things would not fall into place as they were meant to."

"Okay..." Mido said looking down humbly. "So what about this spell thing?"

"It seems this horrible spell only works on fully grown Kokiri. So I placed an enchantment on these woods with my power, and this enchantment will keep you from growing up, so the spell cannot harm you. However if any of you were to leave the forest your enchantment would be broken, you would age and when you did return the same thing would befall you that befell your parents. That is why you can never leave these woods. I ask you both, do not tell the other Kokiri, only you two must know this for now. As for the rest of the Kokiri things are still the same, and no forest folk shall leave these woods, make sure of it."

"You can count on me to make sure of it Great Deku Tree!" Mido said saluting to the great tree.

"Now Saria, I have something to ask of you."

"What is it Great Deku Tree?" she said humbly.

"The boy without a fairy, I want you to watch over him. Keep him safe. I know this boy's destiny, and he is of much importance, we cannot afford to have anything happen to him." The Great Deku Tree said towering overhead. Mido couldn't believe his pointed ears. That little wimpy kid was important? The Great Deku Tree wanted Saria to watch him too. Didn't the tree trust him? He had rescued the little wimp before. He thought of Saria kissing the boy on the forehead again. His fist clenched in jealousy.

"What that little wimp Link? What importance? Is he some kind of hero or something? Heh, he doesn't even have a fairy! If our future's in his hands I might as well go jump off a cliff." Mido said crossing his arms in disgust.

"Mido!" Saria said sharply, nudging him. "Don't be a meanie, he did find the melody after all, he does seem to be special." She said glaring at him. Mido tapped his foot impatiently. 'Oh great' he thought. 'Now I'm a meanie and that kid is the greatest thing in the world!' he thought while clenching his teeth in jealousy. That kid was causing Saria to not like him he thought to himself.

"Do not be bitter Mido my son. You should be happy you have overcome a great evil today. Bravery as yours is rare and leadership as yours is not duplicated easily. I know it is hard for you sometimes to be the Kokiri's leader, but keep putting forth the effort and your people will love and cherish you, and they will depend on you--just as they did your father."

"My Father?" Mido said alarmed. "My dad was the leader of the Kokiri's too?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes indeed Mido, he was a great leader." the great tree said while soaking up the sunlight overhead.

"That's good to hear Great Deku Tree, but you've been the only Father that I've ever known."

"I am sorry Mido, I'm sorry that I could not save your parents."

"I know you would have if you could've Great Deku Tree…I know I don't say it much but thanks….thanks for everything"

"Your quite welcome my son. Now go back to the village. Do not worry about the house trees, it will take some time but they will eventually re-grow. As for the green Ocarina, Saria, please give it to the dryad in the temple, she will know what to do with it."

"Yes Great Deku Tree, I will." Saria said bowing respectfully.

They came back to the village to find that the clean up was coming along rather good. Most of the brush was all piled up into one huge stack and one of the know-it-all brothers was in the process of lighting it on fire. Saria went off to talk to some of her friends.

"Hey Mido! Is it alright if we have a bonfire? I think it's time that we celebrated, after all its not everyday that we survive being attacked by three gigantic evil boars!" Another one of the know-it-all brothers said running up to him.

"Yea sure why not?" Mido said folding his arms. The know-it-all brother smiled and ran off. Mido was still displeased about what the Deku Tree had said about Link. He tried to not think about it. It had made him talk badly to the Great Deku Tree, he didn't ever want to do that again. Soon some kokiri appeared around the blaze with their instruments. One had a fairy violin, one carried a small drum, and the other sported a shining clay whistle. They set up and readied to play.

"Lets start this shindig!" The violin player shouted. The band started playing a wild upbeat jig and all the kokiri started to dance around the fire. Mido couldn't help but tap his foot to the jig. Mido looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Saria dancing with Link. He bit his lip angrily. Saria had never danced with him at all and now this little punk was getting more attention than he was. The kid had found a melody, so what? Mido had jumped out in front of a boar and got hurt, the kid didn't do anything like that. Mido had liked the kid to start off with, but now he was getting all the attention. Another girl came up to the small boy and lifted him up and danced around as she carried him happily.

"Look its the little hero!" She cried happily as she held him up in her arms. "What would we do without you? You're such a smart little guy, finding the melody and all!" Link giggled and hid his face in his hands meekly. Mido growled in frustration. No one was thanking him for what happened at the forest temple.

"Mido, but M-Mido stopped the boar!" Link said pointing at Mido while stumbling in his words.

"Oh he did, did he?" She said smiling at Mido. Mido was taken aback for a second, the little guy was actually trying to give some of the credit back to him. Mido was overcome with a flush of guilt. Mido reached out and took Link into his arms and held him.

"Hey kid." He said smiling slightly at Link. "When is that fairy comin?" he asked. Link shrugged in response.

"I dont know." Link said throwing up his hands.

"And how is my big strong Kokiri doing?" Saria said walking up to them.

"I'm fine." Mido said grinning. Saria gave Mido a confused look.

"I was talking to Link." she said taking the boy from his arms. Mido clenched both his fists angrily. He was doing it again, that kid was taking away all of the attention that Saria had given to him before.

"What are you talking about?" Mido said angrily. "He's not one of us! He doesn't even have a fairy!" he said pointing to Link angrily. The music in the background stopped. The Kokiri stood and watched Saria and Mido.

"What's your problem Mido?" Saria said looking at him angrily. Link looked back at Mido with a bewildered stare, could this be the same boss that had held him two seconds earlier?

"You call him a hero? Heck he almost got us all killed when he got his foot snagged on that root!" Mido said pointing.

"He's just a kid Mido, give him a break." A Know-it-all brother intervened.

"Yea don't be such a jerk Mido." One of the twins blurted out.

"Yea well, why don't you just have him as your new boss if you like him so much? he seems to be doing a much better job than me!" Mido said tromping off angrily.

"Mido!" Link cried out to him with an outstretched hand. Link jumped out of Saria's arms and ran after him, Links foot was still sore and he tripped and fell as Mido disappeared into the forest. "I sorry Mido.." Link said as tears welled up in his eyes. Saria caught up to Link and picked him up. She just couldn't believe how Mido was acting.

"Don't be sorry Link," she said stroking his blonde hair out of his face. "You didn't do anything wrong." Saria held Link and looked into his eyes.

"But Mido's my friend." He said looking back at her pitifully.

"Oh don't worry Link. You know, I'm your friend." she said touching the tip of his nose.

"Your my friend too? Will you get mad at me like Mido did?" he said looking into her eyes.

"No Link...I'll always be your friend." she said smiling at him. She kissed him on the forehead once more. Link giggled happily.

Mido watched from the cover of bushes. He ground his teeth angrily.

"That kid...he took everything from me. Now everyone thinks I'm a jerk, and now he's got all of Saria's attention!" he said with tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Mido...don't be so jealous, the forest doesn't revolve around you. Link is just a-" Mido's fairy said hovering above his head.

"Yea a kid I know! But somehow he's managed to take away from me everything I love, including Saria!"

"He didn't Mido he-"

"Shut up fairy!" Mido said interrupting her. "I dont wanna talk to you anymore! I'm always wrong aren't I?" Mido got up and looked at his fairy angrily. "I'll be sorry if I don't tell her huh? Some good advice you give! I told her how I felt and now look what happened! Good for nothing fairy!" Mido ran off angrily deeper into the woods. The fairy hovered for a second and slowly fell to the ground. The fairy was hurt by Mido's comments for the first time in her life. Because she knew he was serious, he wasn't playing this time. She sniffed silently as the darkness of the forest came over her. The yellow glow that surrounded her started to diminish. She wanted to die, her child hated her, how could she ever cope? She knew if he was acting this way it was her fault, she had raised him after all." Her transparent wings flitted slowly as she cried. She wiped her tears away with her tiny arm and looked up.

"No it's not my fault...I loved him just as any fairy would. This is his own doing. Well if he wants to be that way fine! I'm bound to him as his guardian fairy, but there's no rule that says I have to give him advice...so I won't anymore!" She cried angrily. So the tiny yellow fairy shot upwards and flitted into the dark woods to find her partner.

"Yuni, Yuni the Fairy," a voice sounded out to Mido's yellow fairy. The fairy stopped and hovered.

"Who-Who is this?" she asked wanting to know whose voice was sounding off inside her head.

"This is the Great Deku Tree Yuni, I need to tell you something."

"Great Deku Tree! Yes of course what is it master?" she asked humbly.

"Do not be upset with Mido my fairy...I know that he is frustrated over Saria, and he is acting unreasonable but he is going to have to learn to let go of her. This will be very hard for Mido. Unknown to him Saria is a sage, and in the future she will be separated from everyone...even her fairy. If Mido gets too attached to her it would be a horrible loss for him when she left. This is why I wanted Saria to focus her attention on the boy, it wouldn't be good for her to get attached to anyone. I do feel regrettable about doing this, but it is for the good of the forest, for the good of Hyrule, and most importantly for the good of Saria."

"Yes master, I understand." the fairy said obediently.

"Now go Yuni, Mido needs you more than ever now. He's hurt and afraid...afraid of spending the rest of his life by himself." The great deku tree said.

"Yes sir." the fairy cried. Yuni shot off after Mido. She felt a little less hurt towards Mido now, but she still was going to refuse giving him any advice. If he didnt like her advice, he couldnt have it. But she would try her best to comfort him, and tolerate him.

"You know I feel sorry for him." Saria said looking towards the woods as the festivities continued on around her.

"For who Mido? Why? He's such a meanie." Fay said while handing Link a small piece of candy. "Here you go Linky this will cheer you up." she said smiling down at the tear stained boy.

"Well I don't know, I guess I shouldn't but he's just...so pitiful, I just keep thinking of how bad I would feel if I were in his place. And he is a good boss you know, us Kokiri's wouldn't have a clue if we didn't have him around." Saria said while inspecting Links ankle.

"Ya you're right about that, he is a good boss, but he can be such a jerk sometimes." Fay said with her hand on her hip. Saria sighed.

"I really don't like seeing him that upset, I know he's off somewhere right now just stewing over this, and I don't want him to hate Link. He was so nice to Link when he first met him..." Saria said trailing off thinking of Mido holding Link and smiling. Fay shrugged.

"If you ask me," she said whispering to Saria so Link wouldn't hear her. "I'd say he's really jealous of little Linky here."

"But he's just-"

"A kid I know, but attention is attention." she said shrugging and throwing her hands up in frustration. "Boys are just like that, they're super weird...even their fairies can't figure them out." she said with a touch of laughter.

Saria looked down at Link. How could Mido be jealous of Link? She thought to herself. It was ridiculous. But then again to her it did make sense. Mido's ridiculous behavior had only come about after she had started giving her attention to the small boy. But she had to now, Link was her responsibility and Mido would have to accept it.

"Cmon Link, I think you need a nap." She said picking him up. Link nodded with a sad look and wiped a tear off his dirty face with his sleeve. He sniffed sadly. Saria knew that Link didn't want Mido to hate him, and he was really confused about what was going on. One minute he has a friend that he loves and the next minute that same friend is saying he's not even a Kokiri.

"Tomorrow we'll talk to the know-it-all brothers about getting you a housetree!" She said trying to cheer him up.

"...With a ladder?" he cried hopefully.

"Sure, if you want a housetree with a ladder you can have a housetree with a ladder!" She said laughing joyfully.

The End.


End file.
